For every founder, familiarity with your market is an absolute must. In this talk from the Los Angeles Founder Institute, DerrickOien provides a wealth of resources for founders doing market research. He says that before you get serious about your startup, understand your market and most importantly, know your competitors. If you misstep during your research, you could be out months of time and millions in capital.

Derrick Oien is the President and CEO of ScoreStream, a mobile app that allows you to share sports scores with friends and family. He is also a mentor for the Los Angeles Founder Institute, which is currently accepting applications for the Spring Semester.

Derrick advises founders to begin designing their product based on what has and hasn’t worked for similar companies. Knowing what happened in the past, he says, will not only give you credibility with investors, but you will also avoid making critical errors.

The Founder Institute is the world's largest entrepreneur training and startup launch program, helping aspiring founders across the globe build enduring technology companies. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 50 countries, the Founder Institute has helped launch over 1,550 companies in 6 years. The company's mission is to "Globalize Silicon Valley" and build sustainable startup ecosystems that will create one million new jobs worldwide.